church soon came to call these works Gospels. This tells us something about the way they viewed them. These were not dry, historical accounts of the life of Christ; they were written versions of the oral proclamation. The Gospels have a living and dynamic quality, calling people to faith in Jesus. The Gospels were meant to be proclaimed … and to be believed. To understand the Gospels, we must first ask, What are we reading? What kind of documents are these, and what sort of information are they